


Timeless Love

by Roxolan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, HPMOR Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27560332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roxolan/pseuds/Roxolan
Summary: Post-canon HPMOR flash fic. Tracey doses Harry with a love potion, but this has unexpected effects on a follower of timeless decision theory.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Timeless Love

Moody's latest report on hospital security procedures wiggled on Harry's desk and hissed at him every time he tried to read it without mentally reciting the passphrase. Distractedly, he opened the box of chocolates his head minion had just brought him, and ate one.

_Hmm, cherry. Tastes just like mum’s cherry pie._ Exactly _like mum’s cherry pie, as a matter of fact..._

“Amortentia, miss Davis?” said Harry, without raising his head. “Really? Don’t you know it’s considered a mental health risk on a prepubescent victim?” 

“Well…” Tracey hesitated. “Everyone knows you’re immune to poisons. So I thought I’d try the strongest love potion there is, and maybe a tiny part of the effect would squeak through?”

Harry sighed, and incinerated the rest of the chocolate box with a brisk wave of the Elder Wand. “We need to have a serious conversation about the ethics of mind-affecting potions. Now get out of my office.”

“Uh. I’m really sorry?”

“ _Out_ , miss Davis.”

Harry watched Tracey shuffle out, trying not to linger on any particular parts of her anatomy. 

_This will only enhance my reputation for poison immunity. But, in retrospect, maybe that wasn’t the smartest rumour to start about myself._

Devoted as Tracy was, he could’ve had her bent over his desk with a word. Of course, he would then have found himself rather embarrassed as to where to go from there, his body not being up to speed with his newfound interests. No, this called for long-term planning.

…Which was a bit of a problem, Harry realised. The bite-size dose of Amortentia would wear out in a few hours at most, and with it any motivation to carry out those plans. He might have been a little too quick with the _Incendio_.

Acquiring additional doses of Amortentia was certainly possible. Professor Slughorn, Hogwarts’s newly returned potion master, was discreet and all too eager to ingratiate himself with the Boy-Who-Lived. But fooling Moody long-term would be much harder. Besides, regular use of Amortentia was said to wither the mind. Harry had every intention to live forever with Tracey by his side - not with her pushing his wheelchair.

Which left only one option. Negotiation.

_Wow, you’re a mess_ , thought Harry’s imaginary future self.

_I don’t care,_ Harry thought back.

_You’re under mind-affecting magic. You should disregard your compromised utility function and use mine instead._

_That would’ve been a smart thing to precommit to,_ Harry replied. _Too bad we didn’t think of it. Now here we are. I’m in love, and_ you _will have to act on it._

_Interesting proposition._ His imaginary future self rolled his eyes and leaned back in his imaginary future throne. It glittered. _Let me suggest an alternative: I forget about this little episode, I move on with my life, and probably in a year or three I fall in non-magically-induced love with Hermione. With an outside bet on Fred and/or George._

_Unacceptable._

_Well I don’t know what to tell you, present self. You’re only going to exist for a few more hours, and then I get to do whatever I want._

_There’s a lot a creative thinker can do in a few hours,_ thought Harry, imagining himself toying with the Elder Wand and also actually doing it.

_Threats? Please. You know we have a precommitment against_ that _._

_I’m not threatening you,_ thought Harry, dismissing the imaginary impulse to offer his imaginary future self some imaginary Comed-Tea. _But, given no other option, I’m forced to arrange matters so that you_ have _to do what I want. Say, wouldn’t you give Tracey a chance if she was the last girl on Earth? Because_ that can be arranged _._

_That- but- Heck no I wouldn’t! If you_ dare _kill a single person over this I’ll stay away from Tracey for all eternity. You absolute lunatic._

_My, my, you would destroy what I hold dear unless I obey your commands? That sounds like a_ threat _. Fortunately I have a precommitment against those._

_Okay, but realistically I’m still falling in love with Hermione._

_Realistically, you’re a hormonal boy. Tracey Davis, in addition to being the most beautiful person in every possible universe, is pretty cute. And charmingly obedient, and aggressively courting you. Just keep an open mind, and with her as your head minion, a few late nights at your office... I like her chances even without Amortencia._

_Point taken, but, Hermione._

_You’re high-status and unconventional. I’m sure you can set up one of those, you know, arrangements. Hermione_ can _be reasoned with, and Tracey will probably spin it into something extraordinarily romantic without any help on your part._ Especially _if Fred and George figure into this somehow._

_I suppose I can give it a try._

_Half of Earth’s population thanks you for your heroic sacrifice, stud. Now if you’ll excuse me, I only have a few hours of existence left so I'm swapping you out for imaginary future Tracey._


End file.
